| A Slower Speed of Light | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Developer(s) | MIT Game Lab |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Release | 2012 |
| Genre(s) | First-person |
A Slower Speed of Light is a freeware video game developed by MIT Game Lab that demonstrates the effects of special relativity by gradually slowing down the speed of light to a walking pace. The game runs on the Unity engine using its open-source OpenRelativity toolkit. [1] [2]
In A Slower Speed of Light, the player controls the ghost of a young child who was killed in an unspecified accident. The child wants to "become one with light", but the speed of light is too fast for the child. This is solved through the use of magic orbs which, as each are collected, slow down the speed of light, until by the end it is at walking speed. [3] These orbs are spread throughout the level. At the beginning of the game, walking around and collecting these orbs is easy; however, as the game progresses, the effects of special relativity become apparent. This gradually increases the difficulty of the game. [1] After collecting all 100 orbs, a portal (as seen in the poster) appears. [4] Entering the portal will open a tab explaining the effects of Special relativity, and will also show the time the game was finished in. [5]
As the game progresses, the light becomes slower, and therefore the effects of special relativity start to become more apparent, increasing the difficulty of the game. [1] These effects include the Doppler Effect (red/blue-shifting of visible light and the shifting of ultraviolet and infrared into the visible spectrum), the Searchlight Effect (increased brightness in the direction of travel), Time Dilation (difference between the passage of time perceived by the player and the outside world), Length Contraction and Terrell Rotation (the perceived warping of the environment at near-light speeds), and the runtime effect (seeing objects in the past because of the speed of light). [1] [6]
OpenRelativity is a toolkit designed for use with the proprietary Unity game engine. It was developed by MIT Game Lab during the development of A Slower Speed of Light. The toolkit allows for the accurate simulation of a 3D environment when light is slowed down. [7] It is hosted on GitHub and has been published under the permissive MIT license. [2]
A Slower Speed of Light was developed in hopes of being used as an educational tool to explain special relativity in an easy-to-understand fashion. [8] The game is meant to be used as an interactive learning tool for those interested in physics. [9] [10]
Faster-than-light travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light. The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero rest mass may travel at the speed of light, and that nothing may travel faster.
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 treatment, the theory is presented as being based on just two postulates:
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal physical constant that is exactly equal to 299,792,458 metres per second. According to the special theory of relativity, c is the upper limit for the speed at which conventional matter or energy can travel through space.
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in the absence of gravity. General relativity explains the law of gravitation and its relation to the forces of nature. It applies to the cosmological and astrophysical realm, including astronomy.
In physics, the twin paradox is a thought experiment in special relativity involving identical twins, one of whom makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and returns home to find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more. This result appears puzzling because each twin sees the other twin as moving, and so, as a consequence of an incorrect and naive application of time dilation and the principle of relativity, each should paradoxically find the other to have aged less. However, this scenario can be resolved within the standard framework of special relativity: the travelling twin's trajectory involves two different inertial frames, one for the outbound journey and one for the inbound journey. Another way of looking at it is to realize the travelling twin is undergoing acceleration, which makes them a non-inertial observer. In both views there is no symmetry between the spacetime paths of the twins. Therefore, the twin paradox is not actually a paradox in the sense of a logical contradiction. There is still debate as to the resolution of the twin paradox.
In physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the equations describing the laws of physics have the same form in all admissible frames of reference.
Physical causality is a physical relationship between causes and effects. It is considered to be fundamental to all natural sciences and behavioural sciences, especially physics. Causality is also a topic studied from the perspectives of philosophy, statistics and logic. Causality means that an effect can not occur from a cause that is not in the back (past) light cone of that event. Similarly, a cause can not have an effect outside its front (future) light cone.
Doubly special relativity (DSR) – also called deformed special relativity or, by some, extra-special relativity – is a modified theory of special relativity in which there is not only an observer-independent maximum velocity, but also, an observer-independent maximum energy scale and/or a minimum length scale. This contrasts with other Lorentz-violating theories, such as the Standard-Model Extension, where Lorentz invariance is instead broken by the presence of a preferred frame. The main motivation for this theory is that the Planck energy should be the scale where as yet unknown quantum gravity effects become important and, due to invariance of physical laws, this scale should remain fixed in all inertial frames.
Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either due to a relative velocity between them, or a difference in gravitational potential between their locations. When unspecified, "time dilation" usually refers to the effect due to velocity.
Length contraction is the phenomenon that a moving object's length is measured to be shorter than its proper length, which is the length as measured in the object's own rest frame. It is also known as Lorentz contraction or Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction and is usually only noticeable at a substantial fraction of the speed of light. Length contraction is only in the direction in which the body is travelling. For standard objects, this effect is negligible at everyday speeds, and can be ignored for all regular purposes, only becoming significant as the object approaches the speed of light relative to the observer.
Gravity Probe A (GP-A) was a space-based experiment to test the equivalence principle, a feature of Einstein's theory of relativity. It was performed jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The experiment sent a hydrogen maser—a highly accurate frequency standard—into space to measure with high precision the rate at which time passes in a weaker gravitational field. Masses cause distortions in spacetime, which leads to the effects of length contraction and time dilation, both predicted results of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. Because of the bending of spacetime, an observer on Earth should measure a slower rate at which time passes than an observer that is higher in altitude. This effect is known as gravitational time dilation.
Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity and general relativity.
Terrell rotation or Terrell effect is the visual distortion that a passing object would appear to undergo, according to the special theory of relativity if it were travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light. This behaviour was described independently by both Roger Penrose and James Edward Terrell. Penrose's article was submitted 29 July 1958 and published in January 1959. Terrell's article was submitted 22 June 1959 and published 15 November 1959. The general phenomenon was noted already in 1924 by Austrian physicist Anton Lampa.
General relativity is a theory of gravitation developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915. The theory of general relativity says that the observed gravitational effect between masses results from their warping of spacetime.
COLLADA is an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. It is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group, and has been adopted by ISO as a publicly available specification, ISO/PAS 17506.
In 19th century physics, there were several situations in which the motion of matter might be said to drag light. This aether drag hypothesis was an attempt by classical physics to explain stellar aberration and the Fizeau experiment, but was discarded when Albert Einstein introduced his theory of relativity. Despite this, the expression light-dragging has remained in use somewhat, as discussed on this page.
The de Sitter effect was described by Willem de Sitter in 1913 and used to support the special theory of relativity against a competing 1908 emission theory by Walther Ritz that postulated a variable speed of light dependent on the velocity of the emitting object. De Sitter showed what Ritz's theory have predicted that the orbits of binary stars would appear more eccentric than consistent with experiment and with the laws of mechanics, however, the experimental result was negative. This was confirmed by Brecher in 1977 by observing the x-rays spectrum. For other experiments related to special relativity, see tests of special relativity.
Cocos2d is an open-source game development framework for creating 2D games and other graphical software for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony and web platforms. It is written in C++ and provides bindings for various programming languages, including C++, C#, Lua, and JavaScript. The framework offers a wide range of features, including physics, particle systems, skeletal animations, tile maps, and others.
Away3D is an open-source platform for developing interactive 3D graphics for video games and applications, in Adobe Flash or HTML5. The platform consists of a 3D world editor, a 3D graphics engine, a 3D physics engine and a compressed 3D model file format (AWD).
Phaser is a 2D game framework used for making HTML5 games for desktop and mobile. It is free software developed by Photon Storm.
